Texas Brahmas face the Oklahoma Blazers tonightThe 4-1-1 Texas Brahmas will meet the 2008-09 Oklahoma City Blazers team for the first time this season tonight at the Ford Center. The two teams will meet a total of seven times this season; four times at the Ford Center and three times at the NYTEX Sports Centre.
The game is expected to be a hard-fought contest between the former conference opponents, with Oklahoma City having made it this far without a regulation loss at 6-0-2. With 14 points, they currently have a four point lead in the Northeast Division over Bossier-Shreveport. The Blazers have played in five one-goal games going 3-0-2 in those contests. They are also 3-0-2 at the Ford Center.
Expect a strong showing by rookie right wing Simon Lambert who has 11 points (6 G, 5 A) in eight games played and has a +4 rating.
The Brahmas biggest concern may be how to solve netminder Andy Franck, who will get his ninth consecutive start tonight. Head coach Doug Sauter said he would keep Franck until he gets a loss. The star goaltender has been in net for every minute this season (most in the league at 493:58) and has a 1.46 GAA (2nd in the CHL) and a .939 save percentage (3rd in the CHL). Dating back to last season, the all-star goalie is 15-0-3.
The Brahmas are 2-1-1 on the road thus far and will start goaltender Brett Jaeger (3-0-1) tonight. Jaeger has a 2.47 GAA (7th in the CHL) and a .921 save percentage (tied for 6th in the CHL).
Special teams will be key tonight. The Brahmas are second in the league with a 28.6% power play (12 of 42) and the Blazers have had the most power play chances in the league with 84. They are 10th in the league connecting at 16.7%.
The game begins at 7:05pm and can be watched on Nifty-TV.
Image Credit: Oklahoma City Blazers
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